kaleidoscope heart
by Kuruk
Summary: She's loved a few people throughout the course of her journey, but she'll get it right. Someday. Five people Kris loved, and the one she will eventually. — Kris.


_Notes: Written in response to a request I received. The prompt was: _"I would like to see some Kris. I don't care who she's with (if anyone), but I'd prefer Red or Green or Silver in no particular order." _Well, I'd been meaning to write either Kris or Lyra for a while, and this provided the perfect excuse! I hope you enjoy it!_

_Characters: Kris, her parents, Gold, Lance, Green, Red, Silver._

_Universe: Game **_—_** Crystal._

_Warnings: none (for once)._

_Disclaimer: I do not own _Pokémon_, nor do I stand to profit from this in any form. All mistakes are my own._

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><p><em><strong>kaleidoscope heart<strong>_

**_— _**_five people that kris loved, and the one she will (eventually) —_

i. _Her father_

She barely remembers anything about him now, but she does remember the feelings associated with his presence.

She remembers: being held tight and feeling warm and loved and safe; being thrown into the air and feeling a thrill of fear and inexplicable trust right before he caught her and twirled her around, making her giddy with laughter.

She recalls feeling helpless and sad whenever he fought with her mommy, huddled in her bed under the covers with the lights off, body tense at the muffled sounds of their screaming match.

She remembers being confused when he packed his bags and walked out the door for the last time…

But most of all, Kris remembers every day after he left – the helplessness, the sense of being lost, of having been forgotten by someone who had been the most important man in her life. No, Kris does not remember what his voice sounded like, or how his arms felt when they held her, but she does know that a life without a father is a hard one, for a while, until you learn to breathe without him there.

If anything, Kris is especially good at that.

— . . . —

ii. _Her childhood friend_

Kris had always been a very precocious child.

In grade school, she was the kind of girl that tried too hard in class – not because she liked the recognition, or anything (though that was nice, too), but because she genuinely liked learning about pokémon. She dreamt of being a pokémon researcher like Professor Elm, and went through a phase where she would wear the white coat she used wore as her Halloween costume the year before to school every day.

Among classmates that wanted to be astronauts or cowboys or supermodels or, perhaps most realistically, pokémon trainers, Kris was the odd one out. Understandably, most of the other children excluded her from their games, and even though she would much rather have spent recess reading the latest articles detailing the research of Professors Oak, Birch, Rowan or Juniper, it would still have been nice to have been asked…

So when the neighbor boy first sat next to her during lunch and began talking animatedly about his dream of going on a pokémon journey one day, Kris took one look at his golden eyes and bright smile and thought that maybe she wanted to go on that journey with him.

Gold may not have been the smartest boy in the class, but he was nice and loyal and nodded at all the right times when Kris told him about the last thing she'd read. They became best friends, developed their own secret handshake, and built a secret fort where they spent their afternoons, talking animatedly about pokémon. He was (and always will be) her golden boy, and like most little girls, would compare every boy she met to him for years to come.

When the day came to pick up their starters from Professor Elm's lab, Kris was more excited about seeing the inside of the researcher's lab than receiving her pokémon. But Gold wasn't there – he had already chosen his pokémon and had gone off to run an errand for him, Professor Elm explained. She'd always envisioned her and Gold choosing their starters together, but Kris prided herself on being a rational person, so she'd nodded and chosen chikorita, decidedly _not_ hurt by the fact that things hadn't gone according to plan.

She eventually caught up to him at Violet City, standing at the entrance to the Pokémon Center. Fuming, she had stomped up to him, things like _how could you_ and _you're an idiotic jerk_ ready to fly from her lips, but then he saw her approaching and smiled that wide smile of his. "When I got back home you weren't there," Gold explained. "So I decided to wait for you here."

Suddenly, all the things she'd been planning to say to Gold sounded way too mean, especially since he looked really happy to see her. So she had smiled and let him drag her off to the Violet Gym.

"I'm gonna take the Pokémon Gym Challenge!" he'd proclaimed, pointing at the building. "You should take it with me!"

Despite her misgivings, Kris had gone with him. While Gold and his cyndaquil had defeated the gym leader as if it were the easiest thing in the world, Kris and chikorita were defeated by the very first gym trainer. It was then that she realized that she wasn't good at this like Gold was, and that if she went with him on the journey like she'd planned, then she would hold him back.

So when Gold had smiled at her and told her that she would do better next time, she had simply pulled him close and hugged him longer than usual, memorizing the feel of him in her arms, the familiar smell that made her feel at home. When she pulled back, his cheeks were dusted with pink and he was stuttering, but Kris just smiled and told him to go ahead, that she had to visit the Trainer School and would probably take a while, so she'd just catch up with him later. Gold had frowned and resisted a little at first, but he caved after making her promise that she would catch up to him eventually.

Kris had watched him walk away from her for the first time and felt her heart break. But she let him go, remembering the day when her mother had persuaded her to release a butterfree she'd found in their garden and wanted to keep. Her mother had shown her an article on bug pokémon that detailed their short lifespans, their absolute need to pass on their genes to the next generation before their time was up.

_When you care about something,_ her mother had said gently, _you have to let it have the opportunity fulfill its potential._

Surely the same could be said about golden boys with dreams too big for their friends to keep up with?

— . . . —

iii. _Her (would-be) fairytale prince_

A year or two later, Kris was shopping in Goldenrod City when an earsplitting screech came over the intercom. And then the announcement came: _Attention, this is Team Rocket! We are now in control of the Radio Tower and have blocked all exit routes of the city! You will surrender any pokémon you have with you immediately –_

Anything said after that had been lost to the gasps and screams and cries from the other shoppers. Kris had just stood there in the poké ball aisle, stunned, until Bayleef butted his head against her leg and gave her a determined look, and then she knew what she had to do.

Kris may not have been a particularly talented trainer, but she was sharp and had the tendency to plan strategies for every occasion, any and every move. Her battle style was choppy and cumbersome, nothing like Gold's, but she trusted her pokémon and they trusted her, and that was enough to take out a few Rocket grunts.

So when the first Rocket had appeared from the stairs, he was immediately restrained by a vine whip and banged against a wall, where he slid down to the floor, out cold. But there was only so much Kris could handle, and eventually she was worn down by the seemingly endless flood of rattata and koffing.

When Bayleef collapsed, exhausted, and the grunts advanced on her with smug looks on their faces, Kris had thought it was all over, but then –

"Hyper beam!"

When the smoke cleared, there was a caped man standing there, pointer finger outstretched and expression fierce. Obediently, his dragonite let out an intimidating cry, and any grunt left standing immediately surrendered. Once he was satisfied that they were all appropriately subdued, he made his way over to her and extended his hand, a worried look on his handsome face.

"Are you alright, miss?" he asked.

Kris was never the kind of girl that believed in fairy tales, but the only thing that occurred to her at that moment was that this man, no, her _rescuer_, looked a lot like a heroic prince, swooping in at the last second to save the day.

"Y-yes…" she had said shakily, and he had smiled and extended a hand to her.

After he had helped her up, he offered her a handkerchief to wipe the dust off her face and smiled at her. "You did a very brave thing there, miss," he said, and Kris noticed that his voice was commanding and strong, but kind. "Not many people would dare stand up against Team Rocket like you did."

She had nodded dumbly, and spluttered something along the lines of: "I-it was n-nothing!"

Her cheeks were still pink when he turned to leave, his dragonite following him loyally. When she had called after him about his handkerchief, he had turned around and grinned. "Keep it. Just get some rest. I'll take it from here." And then he had turned away again, cape swishing as he did, and headed down the stairs.

So Kris had nodded and held the handkerchief so that it was close to her racing heart.

She would eventually learn that his name was Lance, and he had singlehandedly cleared the Rockets out of the streets that day. Gold told her all this over lunch, as well as the details of how he had battled them at the Radio Tower himself. Kris had simply clutched the handkerchief in her pocket and nodded, a little smile flitting over her face, daydreaming about being a damsel-in-distress rescued by gallant, caped princes.

— . . . —

iv. _The gym leader_

They met on Cinnabar Island, and after conversing for a few minutes about the science of the volcanic activity that had caused the disaster and bonding over their shared love for geology, he had invited her to dinner, and she had accepted.

Kris was seventeen and still more interested in pokémon and science than she was in boys, but Green Oak was handsome, successful, charming, and intelligent. Still, she wasn't sure if she agreed because he was all those things and more or he happened to be related to one of the giants of the research world.

They had dinner at one of the higher-end restaurants at Viridian City, and she wondered if he was making it a point to emphasize just _how _successful he was, _how _well off he was, _how_ talented he was. Still, Kris had been appropriately awed, though it wasn't because of the things that her date seemed to take the most pride in showing off.

After dinner, he had walked her to the Pokémon Center and stolen a kiss before he left. It was her first one, and it was decidedly nice, because what more could a girl ask for than having her first kiss with someone like _Green Oak_?

They dated a few times after that, but after determining that Green was just a tad bit narcissistic and self-obsessed, the would-be relationship fizzled. Nevertheless, they stayed friends, often getting together for a coffee to talk.

Most importantly, though, he introduced her to his grandfather after he uncovered her fascination with his work, and though Green had looked disappointed and maybe just a little angry as she chattered away with his grandfather with more enthusiasm that she ever had with him, Kris got an internship with _the_ Professor Oak!

After gushing about that fact excessively and thanking Green profusely and lauding him with the highest compliments a girl like her could pay another human being, his anger had evaporated and he started smirking self-assuredly again.

It was a win-win situation, Kris decided — Green got his ego boasted on a regular basis and she got the opportunity to pursue her doctorate under the tutelage of one of the foremost researchers in the field.

Well, maybe she had it a bit better than Green did, but still...

— . . . —

v. _The hero_

Kris had been doing field work for the professor when Red came back home.

She had heard of him (who hadn't?) since she had started her journey and Gold carried on and on about him and how amazing a pokémon trainer he was, and more recently from the townspeople, especially his mother and Professor Oak, who thought very highly of the boy. Still, when the commotion caused by his return died down and she was finally able to get a good look at him, she realized that he definitely wasn't the little boy she'd heard about. He was a man.

Red was tall and lean and wiry from years in the wilderness, and his dull crimson eyes were always bored unless he was staring out into the distance or focused on his Pikachu. Kris had taken to spending time with him after they were introduced. She would sit in his room and lay her research notes on the floor and make corrections to them, try to see how the data supported her doctoral thesis. Red's silence did not bother her – in fact, she found it more refreshing than offensive. Besides, there was a sharp intelligence hovering behind his apathetic eyes, and whenever Kris had a problem understanding something, Red would just make a simple gesture, like touching his index finger to a particular figure in her notes, and it would all fall into place.

Time passed by and Kris learned more and more, coming ever closer to her goal. With Professor Oak's guidance and Red's silence to work with, Kris found herself comfortable in a way she had never been while travelling, and she realized that she would be sad to have to say goodbye to the people she had met, the place that was quickly becoming her second home…

Nevertheless, the day came when Kris finished her thesis and her internship at Oak Labs came to its conclusion, and before she went back home she went by Red's house to say goodbye. She genuinely believed that she couldn't have done it without his insight, and wanted to thank him (and see his face one last time before she left). To her surprise, she found him ready to leave, himself.

"Oh?" she'd said, heart hammering a little too quickly as little fantasies of him going with her flit through her mind. "Are you leaving?"

But Red just nodded and raised a hand in farewell, walking down the path toward Viridian City. Kris tried not to be disappointed – it was just a stupid little daydream, after all, but her heart still fell when he and Pikachu disappeared from view.

"Kris?" it was Red's mother, peering at her from her doorway. "Ah, you saw Red off?"

"Yes," Kris replied, and her voice sounded a bit sad. Then again, Red's mother's did, too.

She sighed, smiled sadly. "That's my son – can't sit still for more than a few months at a time. I think he's gone off to challenge the boy who defeated him again…"

The sun was setting over Pallet Town's stretches of fields and Kris found herself smiling the same sad smile that Red's mother was. "Yes," she said softly, almost fondly. "That sounds like Red, alright."

— . . . —

There's no place like home, Kris muses.

With her doctoral thesis done and her apprenticeship behind her, she is technically _Professor_ _Kris_, now, though it still feels strange to think of herself like that. She looks at herself in the bathroom mirror over the sink each morning and inspects her intelligent eyes (azure like a particularly beautiful sky, Green had called them), her hopelessly frizzy hair, the evidence that she has grown up, these past twelve years of her journey. When she had arrived home her mother she had shown her the white coat she used to wear to school each day and she'd laughed until she cried and her mother cried with her. It feels as if she has come full circle, and it is a good feeling.

It just so happens that Gold is back in town, too, and the two of them hang out in their old fort, just like when they were kids. What a success story for the little town they grew up in – a Pokémon League Champion and Pokémon Professor in one generation. Kris tells Gold this and he smiles fondly, eyes lingering on Typhlosion and Meganium as they laze about in the grass, sunbathing.

One day, one of Gold's friends comes over to visit, though according to Gold, he does not like being called his 'friend.' The man has red hair and sharp, wary gray eyes. When he releases his Feraligatr and it immediately runs off to join Typhlosion and Meganium as if they were old friends, she realizes why.

"Silver, I've told you about Kris, right?" Gold asks.

Silver shrugs carelessly. "You open your mouth so much to babble about anything and everything that I can barely remember anything you've ever said," but then his eyes fall on Kris, who is eying him a bit critically, and he blushes a shade of red that matches his hair. He scowls to try and cover for it, but fails miserably. Kris smirks. "Uh… yeah, I think so…"

Gold laughs, clearly unaware to the finer details of what is going on. "Kris, this is Silver. We were sorta rivals when we were off journeying together, but now we're good friends."

"I've heard about you," Kris says, watching him fidget a bit. "In passing, of course."

After making a few comments on how ridiculous it looks for two adults to be sitting in a 'shoddy kid's plaything,' Silver awkwardly crawls in with them at Gold's insistence, frowning all the while and looking just completely ridiculous. Kris laughs at the sight.

He turns on her, eyes narrowing. "What's so funny?"

"It's just sort of funny how you try so hard to seem so stern," Silver reddens again, and Kris grins. "Kind of cute, actually…"

If Silver had been red before, he's practically purple now, spluttering and coughing. But Gold is laughing a little differently now, having finally caught on to the subtext of the situation, and Kris giggles like the sort of girls she really used to hate back in school, and Silver is still scowling, as red as ever.

They talk for a while, until the sun comes down and their pokémon are asleep, curled up together under a nearby tree. As Silver stalks off to recall Feraligatr, Gold leans in conspiratorially and whispers. "Really, Kris?" at her look of feigned confusion, he waggles his eyebrows rather suggestively. "Silver?"

"What about him?" She asks, suddenly a bit pink in the cheeks, herself.

Gold gives her a sly look before chuckling and walking away himself. "Nothing," he says, then looks over his shoulder at her and smirks. "I think you'll be great for each other."

"_What?_" Silver demands, and Gold laughs again before taking off at a dead run towards his house, almost as if he were afraid that his former rival would try to beat him up if he got too close.

Kris is embarrassed, but she still makes her way over to Silver, clearing her throat when she's just a few feet away from him. He jumps a little and turns to face her, eyes a bit wide and surprised before narrowing again in his customary scowl.

She sighs – not a golden boy or a prince, and _definitely _not a self-assured flirt or a silent inspiration. Still, Kris thinks as she watches Silver watch her, how well did those work out for her? Might as well just, well, take a chance?

"How would you like to go out for coffee with me?" Kris asks.

Silver blushes to the tip of his ears as he fumbles over his words. "Uh… s-sure… whatever."

Kris smiles, runs a hand through her hair.

"Great, because there's this really awesome place in Viridian City…"

* * *

><p><em>AN: I'm not too sure about how this one turned out. I was originally going to go for a piece about Kris being replaced by Lyra, but ended up going in this direction. All in all, though, I rather enjoyed writing it. Now that I've written Kris, I think that puts me in the right direction for the piece I was originally aiming for._

_Anyway..._

_As always, thanks go out to the readers. Thank you for taking the time to read this piece. Reviews and feedback are always appreciated!_

_I hope you enjoyed reading it! _


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